On this 13th update, I have some strange news. Today morning we went to the police station to get an update on the case. The Head Constable said that the Sub-Inspector would meet the milkman today, and we should meet the Sub-Inspector in the evening.
Today evening, I dropped into our house on the way to the police station. While I was there, the milkshop man came to the house along with two other guys. No no, not to fight, but to reach a, ugh, compromise. Maybe the Sub-Inspector met him and he finally realized that he might be in a lot of trouble and that we would not give up the case. One of the guys with him said he was the brother; the other a friend. They said they had brought him along to apologize to us! Unfortunately, my wife was not there. So she missed the show. She might have figured out whether it was an act. I'm a sucker for sob stories.
In great filmy style, these two other guys asked me to forgive him, said he had some "family problems" that day, as soon as they heard that he had done such a thing they berated him and dragged him to us to apologize, he was an uneducated fellow, he didn't know what he was saying, they tut-tutted him in front of me, scolded him, told him he should respect customers and women, that behavior like this is unforgivable and he looked suitably ashamed. This guy in turn apologized profusely for having said such things. He said they he would apologize to "bhabhi" (!) in front of everybody, he was sorry, yada yada yada. Then the other two guys pitched in again: he has been a milkman for 15 years, nothing like this has happened before. He is the only earning member of his family. He will never do anything like this again. The "brother", Venkatesh gave me his phone number and requested me to call him night or day if this guy ever did anything like this again and he would personally beat him up. Ok, take it easy guys. Don't pour it too strong else I might catch on.
The guy said that we should drop the police case against him, he would never behave like this again. He said that "he didn't think that we would turn this into such a big matter". (Oh, and would he have come apologizing if we haven't done all this?) He said that we should start buying milk from his shop again. They were humbly requesting us to compromise and drop the case and would leave it to us to decide what to do. I told them that I could not say anything at the moment... we have filed a Consumer Court case and an FIR. These are not playthings that we might just retract them at will. I would talk to my wife, we would consult our lawyers and then we would decide.
Whew!
Well, I didn't go to the police station after that. My wife returned later and we discussed this. We think that it might be an act. Obviously he was not apologizing out of his own accord. So what was the need to eat humble cake? Perhaps the police have told him that he can go to jail and be fined heavily, perhaps the KMF have threatened to take away his license. He said he has been under a lot of tension since the event occurred. Yeah, like we don't know. That was the intention.
Now the most important question is whether we should take the offered olive branch, or should we continue with the IPC 509 case? We'll discuss with the lawyers and lets see what they advise. One thing we want to continue on with is the Consumer Court case which is on 23rd morning. We think that the overcharging is a separate issue and must be dealt with.
Update Fight for your rights! - Update 12.
7 comments:
My suggestion: In court, ask him to enter a "plea bargain". Let him plead guilty and perform community service in return for no jail time.
second that. and are you crazy? discontinue? what are you thinking? no way.
@anon and @still dancer: Guys, I really appreciate what you said. But, lets be realistic. The chances of his getting convicted are extremely slim. We don't have proof, witnesses. I will post an update of what the lawyers said shortly. See if you change your opinion after you read that...
please don't give up .. you have come this far. You need to teach the milkman a lesson. No matter under what circumstance he has done a bad deed its a bad deed. No one can abuse women just coz they are having a tough time.
@hawkeye: If you want to get him convicted, then yes, you have to consider all these issues. If you want him to plead guilty, all that is required is him to think he has a chance of getting convicted.
By the way, doesn't the fact that he came to your house to apologise strengthen your case? Can't you use that as evidence against him?
lol...i hope you don't chicken out!
@anon1: Probably, thats assuming that we continue the case against him. At this point my wife and I are not inclined to, except the consumer case.
@anon2: Its not a case of chickening out. If it was me alone, I would have continued, but I have to think of my wife's safety as well.
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